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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



clouded. A maiden throws a wreath of 

 flowers over her bead backward against a 

 tree. If the wreath catches and bangs on a 

 branch at the first throw, the thrower will 

 become a bride in the first succeeding year ; 

 if at the second throw, the wedding will be 

 in the second year ; and so on. 



Classiflcation of Glacial Formations. — In 



the discussion in the International Geological 

 Congress on the Classification of Glacial For- 

 mations, Prof. T. C. Chamberlin proposed six 

 classes, namely: Formations produced directly 

 from the action of Pleistocene glaciers ; for- 

 mations produced by the combined action of 

 Pleistocene glaciers and accompanying drain- 

 age ; formations produced by glacial waters 

 after their issue from Pleistocene glaciers ; 

 formations produced by floating ice derived 

 from Pleistocene glaciers ; formations pro- 

 duced by shore ice and ice floes, due to low 

 Pleistocene temperature, but independent of 

 glacier action ; and formations produced by 

 winds acting on Pleistocene glacial and glacio- 

 fluvial deposits under the peculiar condition 

 of glaciation. In each of these classes sub- 

 divisions were proposed. Prof. Albert Gau- 

 dry led in the discussion that followed. Dr. 

 Felix Wahnschaffe described the action of 

 glaciers in forming moraines. W J McGee 

 presented a scheme of classification with five 

 general heads: Aqueous, at base-level and 

 above base-level; Glacial, direct and indi- 

 rect; Aqueo-glacial ; Eolic ; and Volcanic, 

 direct and indirect. 



Oriatin of Folk-lore Tales.— The value 

 of folk lore is regarded by Mr. E. Sidney 

 Harland as lying in the belief that the tra- 

 ditions alike of our fathers and other .na- 

 tions contain and m:iy be made to yield 

 valuable information concerning the primi- 

 tive beliefs and practices of mankind, and 

 behind these, concerning the structure and 

 development of the human mind. It is 

 chiefly in tales that the speculative portions 

 of a savage creed take shape. Not a little 

 has been done in this direction since Grimm 

 first showed the remains of ancient heathen- 

 dom in the stories of his own land. Grimm's 

 method has been more widely applied in 

 recent years by distinguished writers to 

 stories found in every region, and conclu- 

 sions in regard to the beliefs fundamental 



to all savage religions have been based in 

 part upon them. Those speculations have 

 not been allowed to pass unchallenged. 

 Literary men have contended that the true 

 origin of folk tales is to be found in India, 

 and that they were originally Buddhist par- 

 ables sowed broadcast by the Buddhist 

 propaganda. But this theory has been 

 weakened by the discovery of streams of 

 Egyptian and even of Jewish tradition flow- 

 ing through the tales ; and as the area of 

 research widened, it was more and more 

 doubted that folk tales found in the remotest 

 corners of the eai'th all sprang from one 

 center within a measurable historical period. 

 The anthropological theory attributed the 

 origin of folk tales, as of every other spe- 

 cies of tradition, to the constitution of the 

 human mind. A similar environment acting 

 upon the mind would everywhere produce 

 similar results ; and it is the variations of 

 the environment which give rise to the sto- 

 ries all presenting perpetual coincidences, 

 and all evolved from a few leading ideas 

 common to the race. The birthplace can 

 not therefore be determined, for no story 

 has any one birthplace. Another theory 

 admits that the foundations of the absurd 

 and impossible tales current all round the 

 globe must be sought in the beliefs of sav- 

 age tribes about themselves and their sur- 

 roundings, but denies that the mere fact 

 that a given story is found domesticated 

 among any people is of itself evidence of 

 the beliefs and practices of that people, 

 present or past. Some stories must have 

 been invented once, and once only, and then 

 handed on from man to man, from tribe to 

 tribe, till they had made the circuit of the 

 world. This is the dissemination theory, 

 while the other is the anthropological the- 

 ory. Mr. Harland sustains the anthropo- 

 logical theory. 



IVatnre of the Ether.— Speaking of the 

 theory and function of the ether. Prof. 

 Nipher said in the American Association 

 that the slowing up of light in space occu- 

 pied by matter shows that the ether within 

 must be either more dense (as Fresnel be- 

 lieved) or less elastic than that existing in 

 free space. It is certainly very difficult to 

 understand what there can be in the mole- 

 cules of matter that can increase the den- 



